


(Not Quite The) Whore of Babylon

by dracusfyre



Series: Tony Stark Bingo Challenge [15]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dirty Talk, Hooker Fic, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Identity Porn, M/M, When Bucky Met Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-14 15:50:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15392166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracusfyre/pseuds/dracusfyre
Summary: “I want you to come home with me,” Tony blurted.  “I can pay you,” he added quickly.This is a dual fill, for theImagineTonyandBuckypromptHookerfic + Identity Porn pls?and my Tony Stark Bingo square K2, Identity Porn.





	1. Chapter 1

                The kid was looking at him again.

                Bucky took a sip of his drink while he studied the young man out of the corner of his vision; with that dark hair and those big dark eyes, he kind of had a wounded-twink look to him, but his clothes suggested he was more used to ballrooms than night clubs.  He was wearing a button down shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to reveal slim but surprisingly muscled forearms, his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark jeans, and he’d been looking at Bucky off and on for about twenty minutes now.

                So he drained his drink and tossed it, then more out of curiosity than anything else he made eye contact with the kid, meeting his gaze across the crowd and flashing lights of the club and smiling in invitation.  The guy didn’t return his smile, but he did start making his way through the crowd, keeping his eyes on Bucky’s as if he were afraid Bucky was going to vanish if he looked away.

                “Hi,” Bucky said, leaning in to be heard over the crowd. “Wanna dance?”  Because everyone at a club knew that a dance was often an interview for sex later, if your moves were good enough, and it wasn’t as if this guy hadn’t been devouring Bucky with his eyes for a while now.

                “Sure,” he said as he followed Bucky out to the busy dance floor.  “I’m Tony.”

                “Nice to meet you,” Bucky said. “Call me Bucky.”  When the song came on, Bucky expected Tony to be stiff and awkward, all elbows and knees, but instead as soon as Bucky put his hands on his hips, Tony’s  body went pliant, ready to follow Bucky’s lead.

                 Bucky was surprised by how much he liked that.  He swung his hips to the beat and Tony followed, hands eventually coming up to hold onto Bucky’s shoulders.  This close, Bucky could smell the rich, dark scent of Tony’s cologne, something that smelled as expensive as the designer watch on Tony’s slim wrist.  _Slumming rich kid,_ Bucky guessed, but he was moving to the music like the bass was in his bones so Bucky spun him around and pulled him closer, so now they were dancing back to front.   Bucky’s hands were still on Tony’s hips, but after a few minutes of swaying, bodies barely brushing, Tony put his hands on top of Bucky’s and slid them down to his thighs, then back up so that they were dragging his shirt up.  Tony took a ragged breath when Bucky’s fingertips brushed skin and let his head fall back against Bucky’s shoulder.  The feeling of Tony leaning against him, moving against him, so trusting and sensual, lit a fire at the base of Bucky’s spine. 

                He pressed his lips against Tony’s temple as he took him up on his invitation to touch, trailing his fingertips across the sensitive skin of Tony’s abdomen; dancing like this, they were close enough that Bucky could hear the tiny sounds Tony was making under his hands and all of them were going straight to Bucky’s dick.  “You’re a menace,” he murmured hotly in Tony’s ear, and felt another curl of warmth when he saw Tony shiver slightly. “I like that in a guy.”

                In response, Tony pressed back against him, drawing a surprised groan out of Bucky at the sweet pressure of Tony’s ass against his groin.  Bucky’s fingers tightened on his hips as he was tempted to grind against him, but the song was ending so Bucky forced himself to let go.  The next song was a faster tempo, one that brought out people with glow bracelets who liked to jump around, so Bucky tugged Tony off the dance floor before they got elbowed in the face. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked as they moved away from the thumping music.  Bucky could see that Tony was a little flushed under the collar of his shirt and that made him want to back Tony into a quiet corner and finished what they were doing on the dance floor.

                “Oh, I’ve got something.” Tony looked around, a little flustered, and reached out for a half-empty cup on a table a few feet away. “I think this is mine.”

                “Woah, not anymore it’s not,” Bucky said, intercepting it as Tony started to take a sip and throwing it in the trash.

                “What? Why?”

                “Really?” Bucky said in disbelief. “It’s been sitting there the whole time we were dancing, anyone could have put something in it.”

                “Oh. Right.”  Tony looked a bit chagrined for a moment but rallied.  “How about I buy _you_ something?”

                Bucky raised an eyebrow because there was no way this kid was over 21, but instead he said, “Sure, I’ll take a rum and coke, please,” to see if he could pull it off.   He watched as Tony approached the bartender and even though the bartender eyed him skeptically  when she saw his ID, but it must have been a convincing fake because she took his money and handed him a couple of drinks.

                “Thanks,” Bucky said when Tony returned.  “So what brings you here?”

                “What do you mean?”  Tony did a decent job at looking innocent, but his suddenly shifty eyes said that he was indeed here for more than cheap booze and loud music. 

                “Well, this club keeps the lights as dim as possible so you can’t see the gum on the floor and the bad paint job on the cheap plywood walls, and you’re wearing something from Christian Louboutin’s spring collection,” Bucky said, pointing at Tony’s $900 shoes before showing him his own black Converses. “These are the nicest shoes I own and I got them for twenty dollars at a consignment shop.  So what brings you _here,_ Tony?”

                “I want you to come home with me,” he blurted.  “I can pay you,” he added quickly.  “I am trying to make my father fucking _notice me_ and I think a male prostitute would be safer than wrecking my car or faking my own kidnapping or- or-“ Tony stopped and made a sound of frustration, looking down at his drink. “I gotta do something, I feel like a ghost in my own home.”

                "What?" Bucky blinked.  _Oh my God._ Tony thought he was a hooker. This was the last time he let Natasha pick out his clubbing outfit.  “Wait, I’m not…” he stopped when the rest of Tony’s explanation registered. He pulled Tony farther away from the dance floor so that the music wasn’t so loud. “Run that by me again?”

                “Come home with me and help me pick a fight with my dad,” Tony said.  “He’s been ignoring me for my entire life and I’m sick and tired of it.”

                “So you’re looking for a male prostitute so you can piss off your old man?"  Bucky said incredulously.  "Why don't you just bring someone home if he's that homophobic?"

                "I've tried that already," Tony said, jaw tight.  "It didn't work.  I think the only way he's going to pay attention to me is if it looks like I'm going to embarrass him or his precious company."

                "Uh huh. So is sex an essential part of this plan or just like a fringe benefit?”  It was just bright enough in this part of the club that Bucky could see the tips of Tony’s ears turn red.

                “Either,” he said, gaze steady despite his embarrassment.   “I don’t care if he finds us doing it in the foyer, I just want him to finally _see_ me.”

                Bucky studied the kid, the expressive dark eyes with those _ridiculous_ eyelashes and mobile mouth that was currently pressed into a thin, determined line and realized that Tony was an explosion looking for a spark, a sheep that had gone looking for a wolf.  The kind of people that Tony was looking for would have no qualms about blackmailing him, selling the story to the tabloids, or even getting him hooked on something and then milking him dry while he slowly killed himself.  “Ok, I’ll do it,” he said, just because he knew that Tony would approach someone else if Bucky said no and that was a disaster waiting to happen.  “I gotta see your ID, though.  The real one.”

                “Why?” Tony asked, even as he handed it over.  Glancing at it, Bucky winced when he saw that Tony was only nineteen, which seemed impossibly young from Bucky’s advanced age of twenty-three.  He took a picture of it and sent Mr. Anthony E Stark’s address and license number to Natasha and told her not to expect him until late as he cut through the crowd to get outside the club.

                “Because streetwalkers disappear all the time, and I don’t want to be one of them,” Bucky answered as he handed it back.  “Can’t be too careful.”  Which was true enough.  It was actually a system that he and Tasha had worked out when they started living together but the purpose was the same.  “You driving?”

                “Yeah.” Tony started to walk down the street and hesitated.  “So do you want the money now, or…?”

                “How much money are we talking about?”

                “I was hoping you would name a price,” Tony admitted.  He pulled out his wallet right there on the sidewalk and when he opened it, Bucky saw way too many Benjamins to be flashing around in this part of town. “How much do you-“

                “Not _here_ ,” Bucky hissed, hands closing over Tony’s to close the wallet, glancing around to see if anyone had been watching them.  For God’s sake, Tony wasn’t even a full grown sheep, he was _lamb._ “In the car.”

                At this point, Bucky wasn’t surprised when Tony led him to an Aston Martin; the only surprise was that it was still there and all in one piece.  But the walk there had given Bucky time to think of his price for this little charade.  “I’ll take $300,” he said when the doors were closed and safely locked.  That would cover the rest of his bills this month and he wouldn’t have to go begging his supervisor for overtime, but it wouldn’t even make a noticeable dent in what Tony had in his pocket.  

                "Alright," Tony said, and handed it over.  Bucky sighed as he put the money in his wallet and Tony started the car. Sadly, even though Bucky definitely would have at least done some clothes-on heavy petting with Tony before, now that he was taking the kid’s money even his own rarely seen self-respect was drawing a line.  It was a shame, because Tony was sexy as hell and so responsive on the dance floor; even a good make-out session would be the hottest action Bucky had gotten in weeks.                 


	2. Chapter 2

                Thankfully the drive was short, because Tony kept swallowing thickly and sneaking glances at Bucky like he couldn’t believe he was doing this, and Bucky had no idea what kind of small talk a hooker would make with a john, so he just let the radio fill the silence.  After about twenty minutes, Tony turned down a long driveway and pulled up in front of a big white stone house, bushes out front carefully sculpted and the expansive lawn free of even the thought of a weed.   Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he got out of the car.

                “I thought the point of this endeavor was to piss off your old man,” Bucky whispered as Tony opened the front door a crack to check if the coast was clear.  "Not hide from him."

                “I want to have the fight with Dad when you’re _leaving_ ,” Tony whispered back. “Come on.  Jarvis should still be in the kitchen, he always likes to have a cup of tea before bed.”

                “Your dad’s name is Jarvis?” Bucky said in disbelief as he followed Tony down the hallway.

                “What? No, Jarvis is our butler.” Tony tiptoed up some stairs, keeping close to the wall instead of walking up the center, so Bucky just mentally shrugged and followed his lead.  “My dad’s name is Howard.”

                And for whatever reason, _that_ was what finally made all the pieces click, and Bucky had to grab the railing to keep from falling as he tripped up the next step.  _Tony Stark_ meant _Howard Stark_ meant _Stark Industries._   Bucky got a little light headed as his mental image of the spoiled rich kid in front of him turned into spoiled _unbelievably_ rich kid.  Bucky swallowed and stared at the back of Tony’s head in sudden terror.  “Uh, I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Bucky said quietly, suddenly feeling like there was a target on his back.  

                Tony stopped and turned so suddenly that Bucky ran into him. “This is a _terrible_ idea,” he hissed, grabbing Bucky’s arms to keep from falling over, fingers tight.  “But it’s the only one I’ve got and I swear to God I’m at the end of my rope.  Please, _please_ don’t back out on me, because my next idea is going to be even more desperate.”

                Bucky stared down at Tony’s pleading face and believed him. “Okay, okay, it’s fine. Let’s do this.”

                Tony studied him for a moment before he nodded once. “Okay.  My room is through here.”

                Bucky steeled himself and sure enough, Tony’s bedroom was larger than his entire apartment, with a giant bed and a sitting area with couches and a rug and a big desk on the far wall.  Almost every available surface was littered with papers and Tony started to gather them into messy piles, muttering something about school that Bucky didn’t catch because he was staring at the framed diploma from MIT leaning casually against the wall.  Once the papers were gathered and the clothes that had been lying on the floor had been kicked into the closet, Tony stood in the middle of the room and looked a little lost.

                “Ok, now what?” Tony asked, rubbing his palms on his thighs.

                Bucky sat down on the bed, bouncing a little.  “So, just to be clear, have you ever had sex before?”

                "Well..." Tony grimaced and sat down next to him.   “I was always a few grades ahead of my peers, so…it’s hard to date or anything when you’re under 18 and everyone else is…not.”

                “Ah.” Bucky studied the bundle of nervous energy next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.  “Look, Tony, I’m not going to have sex with you tonight.”

                “But-”

                “You deserve better for your first time than someone you’ve paid to do it,” Bucky continued over Tony’s protests.  “Someone you’re excited by and that cares about you.”

                “I’m excited by you,” Tony muttered mulishly.

                Bucky smiled and slid his hand up to cup the back of Tony’s neck.  “And I like you, but you're also only here to pick a fight with your dad, and that's a _terrible_ reason to have sex.”

                Tony scowled but couldn't really argue with that.  “So then what _are_ we going to do?”

                Bucky toed off his shoes and climbed further on the bed.  He grabbed the headboard and shook it experimentally.   “You’ve got a big sturdy bed here, but if we try hard enough I bet we could make it bang the wall.  Have you ever seen _When Harry Met Sally_?”

                “Yeah, my mom likes that movie.” His eyes widened when he realized what Bucky was talking about. “Oh, you’re talking about that one scene in the restaurant.”

                “Yep.  Think you’re up to it?”

                “I guess so.” He came up to kneel on the mattress, hands on the headboard.  "Now wha..." Tony's words died as Bucky knelt behind him and leaned over to put his hands next to Tony's, his body a warm heavy weight across Tony's back. 

               "Now we gotta get in the mood," Bucky murmured in his ear, voice low and hot. "because otherwise if the bed is just banging they'll think you're having a seizure or something."  

               "Ok," Tony said breathlessly.  

               “You know, normally I would already have my mouth on you by now,” Bucky continued, nosing at the hair at the nape of Tony's neck before brushing a light kiss there.  Tony sighed and let his head drop.  “Maybe sucking bruises on your thighs, or teasing your nipples, or kissing that smart mouth of yours.  I’d be in a hurry to get naked, but after that, I’d probably slow down to take my time.”

               “That-” Tony’s voice was a little squeaky so he cleared his throat and tried again.  “That sounds…good. Um, then what?”

               “That would depend on what you’re into.” Bucky’s voice deepened and he watched as the flush started climbing up Tony’s neck.  On the headboard, Bucky covered Tony's hands in his.  “I know you’ve thought about it.  What do you like to imagine when you touch yourself?  Do you finger yourself and imagine what it would feel like to have someone inside you? Or do you fuck your fist and imagine that you’re inside someone’s tight, hot body?”

               “Jesus, Bucky.” Tony shifted underneath him and Bucky bit back a groan as Tony's ass brushed against his groin, where Bucky’s cock was pressed against the zipper of his jeans, aching for relief.  “Both, I wanna try both.”

               “Yeah, I like both, too.  But I think I’d like to be your first, so while I suck your cock I’d probably like to finger you, get you nice and relaxed for me.” 

                Tony made a strangled noise in his chest. “I probably wouldn’t last long if you did that,” Tony said with a breathless laugh. 

               “Maybe I'd let you come, maybe I'd make you wait, depends on how good you were being for me."Bucky was losing track of the plan, thinking about how good Tony felt under him and how much better it would be if they were both naked. He feverishly tried to come up with justifications for why he could do what they both clearly wanted, but the money was still a heavy weight in his pocket and on his conscience.  

               "Good? Good how?" Bucky turned his head to see Tony staring at him hungrily, pupils blown.  This close, Tony's eyes were the color of fine whiskey.  "Am I being good right now?"

               "So good, sweetheart," Bucky said, using one hand to tip Tony's chin up so he could press kisses along his throat.  "Making those sweet little noises you do is a great start, letting me know you like what I'm doing."

               "Oh, God," Tony groaned, already sounding wrecked.  Under him he could tell that Tony was trembling, so he traced his hand down Tony's neck to press against his breastbone.  

               "Steady there, Tony, I've got you," he said, and after a moment, Tony nodded and relaxed, the tension draining out of him with a sigh.  There, there was that sweet pliancy from the dance floor; Bucky smiled and rewarded Tony with a gentle press of teeth against Tony's shoulder, drawing a moan out of him.  "When you were ready, I'd be aching to get inside you.  I would start slow to let you get used to it, but then you’d start getting into it-” Bucky started rocking against Tony, getting into a rhythm, and when Tony helped the headboard was soon banging against the wall. “Is this what you want?”

               “Oh yeah, just like that,” Tony panted.

               “And I wouldn’t be able to help myself, because you’re so hot, I would be so ready to come that I’d just start pounding into you.”  Bucky gritted his teeth because feeling Tony move with him, under him, really was one of the hottest things he'd felt all year.    

               “Fuck yes, give it to me,” Tony said loudly over the sound of the bed. 

               “God, you feel so good, I could fuck you forever, _fuck-_ ”

               “ _Yes,_ don’t stop, I’m coming!” Then Tony let out a long, hitching moan that made Bucky’s toes curl, fake or not.  He stilled, hyperaware that the least stimulation against his cock would probably have him coming in his pants. 

                “Ok, I think that should do it.”  He took a deep breath, trying to force down his unruly erection, and carefully scooted off the bed, adjusting his pants as he stood with difficulty.  “Now c’mere.”  Tony moved slowly to join him, clearly having the same problem that Bucky was. When he was close enough, Bucky ran his fingers through Tony’s hair, wishing he could linger as he felt the silky strands against his skin.  “Now bite your lips a lot and put your shirt on inside out.”

                “You know, as much as I’m paying you, I could at least get a kiss,” Tony said as he obeyed, his voice slightly muffled by his shirt.

                Bucky smiled and misbuttoned his own shirt, ruffling his hair as much as possible though it was too short to truly look disheveled.   “You’ll get a kiss, I promise.”  He tilted Tony’s chin up and rubbed his jaw against Tony’s neck, letting his five o’clock shadow turn the pale skin there pink.  Tony shivered and exhaled shakily, which made Bucky want to keep going, to kiss darker marks into his skin and chase the goosebumps down Tony’s chest and find out if Tony’s real orgasm sounded anything like the fake one.  But he forced himself to step back and meet Tony’s wide, dark eyes.  “Ready?” he managed.

                Tony nodded and his mouth quirked.  “So do I look appropriately debauched?”

                “Not quite.  You need to bite your lips some more.”  Bucky couldn’t stand there and watch Tony’s teeth worrying his lips when _he_ wanted to be the one making those soft lips swollen and red, so he turned the bed and started unmaking it, tossing pillows and tugging the sheets out of place.  He pulled a condom out of his wallet and opened it, tossing the wrapper in the trash and the condom itself in his pocket. "Ready?  If that noise didn’t get his attention, nothing would.”

               At that, Tony’s spirits seemed to dim a little, but he raised his chin gamely. “Alright, let’s go.”

               No one challenged them on the way to the front door, so while they waited Tony leaned against the door and hooked his fingers in Bucky's belt loops to pull him closer. “So, am I going to get that kiss or not?”

               "Try to stop me," Bucky said with a smile.  He ran a thumb over Tony’s lower lip to see if it was as soft as it looked, and dipped his head to press a kiss to the corner of Tony’s mouth when it was.  Tony’s eyes closed as he lifted his chin and parted his lips, sighing a little when Bucky tilted his head and covered his mouth with his own.  At first, Bucky teased them both, dipping his tongue in lightly and withdrawing it when Tony tried to meet it, until Tony nipped his bottom lip in retaliation.  That little spark of pain relit the barely subsided arousal from before, so with a groan Bucky picked Tony up and pressed him against the door. With a sharp inhale Tony wrapped his legs around Bucky's waist, letting him rut into the crease between thigh and groin.  "Jesus, Tony," Bucky panted against Tony's mouth, hitching him up a little higher so he could feel Tony's erection against his hip.  

                “Anthony Edward Stark, what in the _hell_ do you think you’re doing?”  They both stilled at the angry roar, the plan having been temporarily forgotten.

                "Shit," Bucky groaned, resting his head against the door as he lowered Tony to the floor. 

                “Showtime,” Tony corrected, pressing one last kiss to Bucky’s mouth. Then his gaze went to someone over Bucky's shoulder and his expression became shuttered and distant. “Hey Dad, what’s up?”

                Bucky took a deep breath and put on a slightly bored face while he turned around to face Howard Stark, one of the top ten richest men in America, hero of World War II, one of Time Magazine’s most influential men of the 20th century, and according to Tony, grade A asshole.   To be fair, he did look like he could be a prick, one of those self-entitled types who would see nothing wrong with buying his way out of trouble.

                “Who in the hell is this?” Howard demanded, looking Bucky up and down and clearly unimpressed with what he saw.  Behind him, an older lady, presumably Tony’s mom wrapped her robe tightly around herself and looked equal parts concerned and confused.

                “Um…” Tony made a show of looking confused when he turned back to Bucky. “Billy? Bobby? I’m not sure.  Doesn’t matter, you know what they say.  You don’t pay them for the sex, you pay them to leave right after, right?”  He pulled out another hundred dollar bill as he opened the door and gave Bucky a lazy smile. “Nice work, you earned it.”

                “Anytime, sweetheart,” Bucky drawled and plucked the money from Tony's fingers, then swallowed a surprised noise when Tony smacked him on the butt before closing the door.  Howard was already yelling before the door was properly latched, which made Bucky hesitate on the front step, lingering in case Tony needed his help.   But from the sound of it, Tony was giving as good as he got, so Bucky hit the driveway and started walking towards the biggest main road.

                 By the time he got home, he'd spent a long time thinking about Tony and Howard and himself and his dead-end job and his broke-ass life, so after showering and a late night bowl of cereal he finally dug up a sheet of paper and a pen.

 _Tony_ ;

_I know you didn’t ask my opinion, but I’ve been thinking about you a lot and I need to get this off my chest:_

_You should stop wasting so much time and energy on your dad.  I only spent a few hours with you, but I know that you are smart and generous and determined and kind, and there will be plenty of people in your life that will see you for the person that you are.  If your dad isn’t one of them, then that’s his loss. You’re going to accomplish great things, so go do that instead of wasting time on him._

_-Bucky_

                Bucky bit his lip before he wrote the next part, but at this rate, it was in for a penny – it’s not like they would ever see each other again, right?

  _PS-I’m sorry we didn’t get to bang that headboard for real. That kiss was amazing._

                He pulled up the picture of Tony’s driver’s license and addressed the envelope before he lost the courage, then laid back down and stared at the ceiling for a long time before he fell asleep.

 ***

                “I’m going to join the Army,” he announced over breakfast the next day.  Natasha raised her eyebrows and sat back in her chair, studying Bucky over her glass of orange juice.

                “Is this because of that guy last night?” she said after a moment.  Bucky had given her a highly abridged version of the night’s events, not mentioning the money because he knew she would read him the riot act over it.

                “Kinda.” Bucky shrugged and stared down into his coffee.  “I just feel like I’m wasting my life, so I’m going to try something different.”

                “Good for you,” she said to his surprise, turning back to her toasted waffle, and that was that.


	3. Chapter 3

_Five Years Later_

                Bucky stood stiffly at parade rest as the C-130 taxied up the runway to where a small group of military officials were here to meet with a military contractor, the details of which were only on a strictly need to know basis.  Bucky, as a sergeant, was the lowest ranked soldier there, but he was widely acknowledged as the best marksman in Afghanistan so he was there in an advisory capacity.  Despite that well-earned distinction, being around so many colonels and generals was making his palms sweat even in the chill air of the Afghan spring.

                As the plane turned off its engines and people started streaming out the back, Bucky tried to figure out who the mystery visitor was; then he felt stupid when he saw that there was only guy wearing the three-piece suit and tie among the crowd of soldiers and airmen unloading the plane.  Sure enough, the suit made a direct line for where the officers were waiting, and when the man took off his sunglasses only years of training kept Bucky’s jaw from dropping.

                “Welcome to Afghanistan, Mr. Stark,” General Kim greeted, and even as Tony shook the general’s hand his eyes immediately met Bucky’s, widening in recognition. After a moment, further introductions forced his attention away, which gave Bucky a chance to try to slow his thundering heart.

                “Sergeant James Barnes,” Bucky said formally when it was his turn, and he didn’t think he was imagining it when Tony’s hand lingered in his.

                “Pleasure to meet you,” Tony said.  God, he had only gotten sexier with time.  He was a little bit taller and more filled out in the shoulders, and his hands had intriguing callouses on them that hadn't been there five years ago.  He'd also grown out a goatee and his voice was deeper, but his eyes were the same, dark and thickly lashed.  “I take it you’re the man I’m going to be working with to test the new Stark sniper rifles?”

                “Yes, sir,” Bucky managed, trying to stay professional but it was hard when Tony kept looking at him with those bedroom eyes and that mobile mouth quirked in a knowing grin.  That mouth still featured in a lot of Bucky's late-night fantasies and here it was, within touching distance but in front of all of Bucky's bosses. 

                “Looking forward to it," Tony said before he put the sunglasses back on and turned back to the officers.  "Shall we go, gentlemen?"

 

                They didn't get a chance to talk again for a few hours, but eventually Tony managed to ditch the generals and found Bucky in the chow hall, chewing desultorily through his dinner.  "Hey there, Sergeant Barnes," he said as he took the seat across from him, scooting the chair from under the table with the screech of metal on concrete.  "Should I call you James? Or do you still use Bucky?  Which, FYI, as fake names go is pretty terrible."

                Bucky snorted.  "For the record, Bucky isn't a fake name.  My middle name is Buchanan."

                Tony made a face.  "It's still terrible." 

                 "Yeah, but my sister gave it to me when she was young and for some reason, it stuck."  Bucky pushed his tray away and crossed his arms on the table, studying Tony in the harsh fluorescent light of the dining hall.  "So.  You seem to be doing well."

                "Yeah, I am, I guess,"  Tony said, sounding a little surprised by the admission.  

                "How did everything go with your dad?"

                Tony's laugh at that had no humor in it.  "My parents died in a car accident that December."

               "Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Tony," Bucky said, but Tony was waving away his words.

                "You know, it's funny.  I took your advice - you know, from the letter you wrote me - and basically gave up on trying to impress him and focused on my own projects instead.  In less than a month, I had written a learning algorithm that still beats everything currently on the market and became the core of the world's first truly artificial intelligence." Tony smiled, that same wry quirk of his lips that Bucky remembered.  "I named him JARVIS.  Funnily enough, after word got out about it, my dad suddenly had time for me.  But by the time he was willing to give me a seat at the table, I had already built my own table." His smile faded.  "I don't know if you would call what we had after that a healthy relationship, but at least I didn't go looking for any more hookers in sleazy nightclubs."

                Bucky winced at that and scratched the back of his neck with some overdue chagrin.  "You know, just to set the record straight, I wasn't really a prostitute."

                "Yeah, I figured that out," Tony said dryly.  "The letter was the first clue.  Then when I went looking for you, the bartender threw a drink on me when I asked if she knew a hooker named Bucky."

                "She did?" Bucky laughed. "You must have run into my old roommate Natasha. Nat never told me about that, that you had come looking for me...But then," he admitted, "I hadn't told her that I had been pretending to be a prostitute so she probably thought she was protecting me. Pretty soon after that night I joined the army so I never went back to the club."

                "What made you decide to do that?"

                "Well, on the walk home-"

                "You walked home?" Tony said in disbelief.  "For God's sake, why? That's why I gave you that extra hundred, to pay for a ride."

                "I wasn't about to waste all of that barely earned money on cab fare," Bucky protested with a rueful smile.  "Besides, I had a lot to think about.  On the way, I came to some pretty depressing conclusions about my life and where it was going, so." He shrugged.  "I did what a lot of broke young men do, I joined the military."

                "Ah."  They were quite for a moment and finally Tony said, "I'm glad I found you again."

                "Me too." He hadn't even realized how much he thought about Tony, about how he was and what he was doing, until he'd seen him again, in literally the last place he expected.

                "You know, I still have your letter," Tony said quietly, eyes serious and sincere.

                "Really?"  Bucky squirmed under the weight of that gaze. He didn't really know what to do with that information, but it did make him feel good. "I, uh, don't still have your money."

                Tony laughed.  "Well, how about this," he said, pulling a business card from his pocket and writing a phone number on it. "You give me a call when you get back to the States, and I'll let you buy me dinner to make up for it."

                Bucky didn't even want to know what kind of dopey expression was on his face right now as he took the card. "It's a deal."


End file.
